Rawalpindi
Surprisingly, chicken prices have risen to an unaffordable level for a common man as one kilogram meat of chicken is being sold in the retail shops at Rs300.
Chicken, which was easily available at Rs150 per kilogram a few days back has gone out of the reach of a common man.
The people associated with poultry business blamed the worst impact of climate change which killed lots of chicken in the recent past.
It is worth mentioning here that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also took notice of chicken price in retail market but practically public has not yet got the benefit of it. A day back when Finance Minister took notice, 1-kilogram chicken was selling at Rs260 but after he took the notice 1-kilogram chicken is being sold at Rs300. Rawalpindi Chicken Retailers Association representatives Ashraf Shaikh, Ikram Abbasi, Muhammad Kamran, Talib Hussain and several others said that they are facing worst situation due to rising rates of chicken. Our sale has strongly reduced because of rising prices, they said. They said that prices of chicken have increased suddenly in wholesale markets and they have no idea why. The wholesale dealers presenting excuse of shortage of commodity, they claimed.
Chicken Wholesale Dealers Association representatives Sajid Mehmood, Faran Abbasi, Muhammad Jamal and several others said that prices have gone up because of shortage of chicken in the poultry farms. A large number of chickens died due to unexpected weather in the country particularly in Potohar region. Chicken prices may further increase in coming days, they warned.
A survey conducted by ‘The News’ revealed that the big wholesale markets are at Raja Bazaar, Dingi Khoi, Dhoke Ratta, Shamsabad, Ghazni Market and Bagh Sardaran where chicken comes from different areas. Majority of poultry farms are in Murree, Bhara Kahu, Chak Beli Khan, Attock, Taxila, Wah and several other localities of Potohar region.
During a visit, ‘The News’ learnt that dead chicken were also being sold in the wholesale market. Requesting anonymity, a dealer said that roadside restaurants bought the dead chicken at a cheap rate, adding that the restaurant owners believed that after cooking, the chicken posed no threat to human health.
Shopkeepers said the increase in price was due to the widening gap between demand and supply.
Muhammad Mudasir, a salesman said they were getting less supply of chicken for the last three days. He said its demand had not decreased and people were still consuming chicken.
In a statement, Poultry Farms Association President Dr Hassan Sarosh said businessmen had invested around Rs200 billion in the poultry industry and 1.5 million people were attached to the industry. He said there were 25,000 poultry farms in the country. Chicken prices will down soon, he said in a statement.
Talking to ‘The News’ people belonging to different walks of life strongly condemned increasing prices of chicken to an unaffordable level. They have appealed government to take notice of the situation.